This next chapter's a long one,

disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon

That night someone had been watching the two girls. Elliot stood petrified as he snuck a peek through the house's front window. a couple large men had approached his sister. He prayed to the goddess with all his heart that she wouldn't do something rash. She kicked the first man in the crotch and he winced. "Darn it Natalie!" He mumbled under his breath.

The men were mad now. Two of them grabbed either of her arms. Elliot had to move, he had to go help her! He had promised his dad that he'd be the man of the house, that he'd take care of his little sister yet, every time she got into trouble he was paralyzed with crippling fear. His legs shook as he made an effort to move them. Even if he did go to help her, what good would he do? He was so weak.

He had always carried an immense guilt. He could never help her. All those times in the past where she was pushed around by his classmates and he'd just watch on helplessly from a safe distance. He watched her grow strong and cursed that he was still so weak. Since no one had ever helped her, he had watched through the years as his sister became hard and bitter. It had to be his punishment when she started bullying him.

The man prepared to punch her and he held his breath.

It was Tuesday, two days after the reconciliation with Natalie and the weather was not getting any better. The animals were miserable in the heat, no rain had fallen and even most of the herbs Chelsea had been waiting to harvest were shriveling up. Yep, the only things thriving were the weeds.

She splashed a bucket of water over milky and she mooed happily. "There ya go girl, sorry that's the most I can do for you right now." Chelsea said patting the large animal. Shockingly, that cow she had brought home the month before, wasn't even a mature cow yet. Milky had become a giant. Chelsea had to make sure not to anger the irritable cow or her rampage could quite literally mow down everything in its path.

She stepped outside, and groaned. The heat was unbearable. Leaving the farm she decided to stock up on bottled water. If there was going to be a drought, the price would skyrocket.

Elliot stood nervously at her front gate. "Hey… Chelsea."

"Hello!" She responded brightly.

"I just wanted to say. Thanks a lot for helping my sister." He said quietly.

"It was really nothing at all." She said and started to continue walking.

"You know," he said suddenly and she stopped again and looked at him.

"I really admire you for standing up to those guys, how do you do it?" He asked, looking down at the ground.

"Pardon?" She blinked.

"How do you muster up the strength to stand up to people who are bigger than you?" He asked.

Chelsea froze and thought about it. It had been awhile since she had felt fear, certainly not against those drunks but… it looked like Elliot needed reassuring. If she said she wasn't scared it wouldn't make him feel any better.

"I guess," she started, "If the cause is important enough, You'll find a strength inside you that you didn't know you have."

He didn't look any bit better.

"But Natalie's a strong girl! I'm sure that you don't need to worry about her, she's learned her lesson!" She said quickly.

He bowed his head even lower, what a depressing guy, thought Chelsea.

"I know that but still, I'm just so weak." He balled his fists, "You see, there's this girl I like…"

Julia? It was pretty obvious to everyone that they were into each other.

"But recently, she's been acting weird around me… I should of known she'd never like me. Someone who is so weak and girlish like me could never make her happy."

Girlish? Did he think girls were weak? Her eyes narrowed slightly. Had she not just kicked five guys' butts?

As if feeling a demonic aura wafting over to him he jolted upright, "NotThatIThinkGirlsAreWeak!" Chelsea's annoyance was quelled and he slouched in relief.

"Anyway," he said with renewed determination, "Please teach me how to be a man!" He blurted.

Chelsea face palmed. Like she knew how to be a man! He should ask Denny or somebody. She was about to glare at him but froze, how could she say no to those puppy-dog eyes?

"Fine," she muttered, "be here this time tomorrow."

"Thank you so much!" He said and ran off. What a weird little fellow. In the meantime thought Chelsea, abandoning her water goals, I should check in with Julia.

The whole process seemed unnecessary, she was pretty sure that Julia liked him too for whatever reason. Julia hadn't just been weird with Elliot recently, she was acting weird in general.

She found the girl tending to the cows at the ranch. Hopping the fence, Chelsea grinned and waved.

"Chelsea." Said Julia, "What's up?"

She froze, she hadn't thought through what she was going to say… "Erm, Has something been bothering you?" She asked, going straight to the point.

"No… I'm fine." She was lying, Chelsea could tell.

"Does it have something to do with Elliot?" She asked. Julia's eyes widened,

"How'd you?… No."

Chelsea sighed. Obviously it did have something to do with the pink haired boy, but she wasn't going to say anything more so she decided to let her off, "Alright, just feel free to talk to me anytime."

Julia nodded gratefully, "Thanks a lot."

Vaughn blinked in confusion, what the heck was he doing?

Finally the cowboy had finished with the paperwork and had inspected all of the animals. He wondered what he was going to do now. Maybe, he'd wander the forest. He liked that place, it was quiet and much more peaceful than anywhere in the city. Stepping out of the shop he blinked, momentarily blinded by the sunlight, his violet eyes weren't very good when it was very bright. Immediately he felt a hand grab his wrist.

"Come with me!" Said a feminine voice and before he could gather his bearings he was being pulled up towards Chelsea's farm. Looking down he could see the red bandanna of the perpetrator.

"Okay! Lesson number one!" She declared standing on a tree stump. Vaughn practically growled at the rancher and the bespectacled boy standing beside him flinched. "Chelsea," he said in a low voice. "You have three seconds to tell me what's going on before I leave."

"Well you see," she said, "Elliot here is trying to become more manly to impress your cousin, and so I got the manliest person I could think of to come and help with today's lesson!"

The cowboy could feel a warmth touch his cheeks that was not caused by the heat wave and quickly lowered his stenson over his face.

"see right there!" Said Chelsea to Elliot, "Number one, a guy has to try to hide his true feelings. Vaughn was embarrassed by my comment so he hid his expression."

Elliot nodded and began to write notes on a piece of paper. Vaughn clenched his fists, this girl!

"Oh! And now he's angry that his feelings were found out and is choosing to hide them with anger! I was told once this is called being tsundere!" She said excitedly.

He was done here, he could not take one more second of this assault. He sent her his best glare and was annoyed to see that she was completely unaffected, she even grinned a little. "Did you see how manly that glare was Elliot?"

The boy nodded his head while frantically writing more notes. The cowboy turned around and began to leave. "Wait! Vaughn!" She shouted, "We still need you!"

He ground his teeth and began to walk faster.

The next morning, Elliot came back. "Hey Chelsea." He said.

"Hello!" She smiled.

"I feel pretty bad for the way we treated Vaughn yesterday, I think we should apologize." He said quietly.

"Actually," she said with sudden inspiration, "You go apologize!"

"What?" He exclaimed, "but that guy's terrifying!"

"Exactly!" She said, "Wasn't that the problem? That you could stand up to big guys?"

"I-I guess" he said. He looked up with one of the most determined expressions Chelsea had ever seen on him, "I'll do it!" He said.

She nodded her head, "yes, YES! That's the spirit Onwards my young disciple!" She would never tell the boy that the main reason he was going to apologize was because she didn't want to. She regretted nothing.

Vaughn yawned, he had had a hard time sleeping the night before. He wasn't used to girls being so forward with him and he regretfully admitted that it had been bothering his thoughts. Had he gotten soft? His glares could usually sent anyone in the near-vicinity running.

A meek voice interrupted his thoughts, "Hey Vaughn."

He turned and glared. The boy shrunk a little but to his credit, didn't run. "I just wanted to say sorry, Chelsea kind of over-did it yesterday…"

The white-haired man sighed, "It's fine".

Just then, a flash of red was visible and he scowled, "Chelsea! Get out from behind that bush!"

She got out and grimaced. "I used to be a lot better at hiding! Honest! Its 'cause I've started wearing bright colours!"

Vaughn's brow rose, he couldn't imagine the cheery rancher in dark colours. He was contemplating commenting but all three froze as a scream pierced through the air.

"Julia!" Called Elliot and he broke into a run. Chelsea and Vaughn exchanged looks and then sprinted to catch up. The sight waiting for him made his blood freeze. Julia stood petrified in front of the chicken coop. The doors were wide open fully revealing the mess inside.

"This-This is my fault, I left the door open last night!" She sobbed.

Vaughn erupted, "YOU IDIOT! LOOK WHAT THE WILD DOGS HAVE DONE!" He was shaking in anger. "You've been so distracted lately and now thanks to you, the chickens are all dead!"

Julia gasped. "Yes." She said in almost a whisper. "It's my fault, it's always my fault."

Chelsea smiled, "It's fine Julia mistakes happen!"

Vaughn wheeled on her, "IT'S NOT FINE! How can you be smiling at a time like this you freak!" Chelsea froze.

Usually Julia would be scolding Vaughn at this time for talking to her friends like that but she was silent. Tears were freely falling down her face. "Because of me, more lives have ended! I'm a monster!" She ran off.

In that second Vaughn realized just how harsh he was.

"Why did you say all of that?!" Yelled Elliot. He blinked in surprise, "Julia was already feeling awful! I'm going to go look for her!"

The bespectacled boy ran off and Vaughn turned to Chelsea, "Chelsea I-" The girl was looking at the sky blankly.

"I see…" She said, "So there are times where its inappropriate to smile?"

"Uh.. Yeah?" He said.

"Huh." She shook herself out of her trance and grabbed his arm. "Follow me!" She said and dragged him in the direction of the forest.

"What are we doing?" He asked.

"I want to see what happens between Elliot and Julia! I've become too invested in this cause to miss out on the juicy part!" She yelled.

Vaughn shook his head in disbelief. "Either way, we won't be able to find them now" He told her.

"Oh yes we will!" she said.

Releasing his arm she glanced over the nearby underbrush. "This way!" She said. Great so now she's a dash hound. He had no doubt in his mind that they were going to get lost. She stopped, examined the ground and pointed to the east, "Now that way!" He shook his head again, why was he following her?

Eventually they actually did hear voices. She put a hand to his mouth and he grimaced at the contact quickly swiping her hand away and lowering his stenson.

"Thank you Elliot… but it really is my fault" said a sad voice.

"You can't beat yourself up about it too much Julia."

"I know."

"Has there been something else bothering you?"

"Eh?"

At this point Chelsea had taken off her bandanna, (she wasn't making the same mistake twice in the same day!) and began to creep closer to the pair, Vaughn followed reluctantly. Soon the two were in view.

"What do you mean?" Asked Julia.

"You've been acting really weird recently, something's wrong right?" Elliot asked with a concerned expression.

"No, it's nothing really! I just… Don't worry about it" she said squeezing her arm.

"Of course I worry about it!" Said Elliot firmly, "I really like you Julia!"

Vaughn rolled his eyes at the corniness and received and elbow to the ribs from the brunette beside him.

"No you don't," she said, "You've been spending a lot of time with Chelsea right? I could see why you like her, she's pretty and really sunny and nice!"

Vaughn glanced at Chelsea from the corner of his eye but his eyes jerked back when she glanced up at him.

"You're wrong!" He said, "Chelsea's just been teaching me how to be manlier so I could be someone worthy of you!"

Julia smiled sadly, "The problem isn't you, I really like nice, quiet Elliot. It's me."

Vaughn suddenly realized what she was thinking of, he was her cousin after all. She's still punishing herself for that?

"What do you mean?" Asked Elliot.

"You've said it yourself, you hate people like me, or at least who I used to be."

"I don't follow." He said.

"I-" She started, "I used to be a bully!" She blurted.

He took a step back. "What do you mean?"

Vaughan knew this story and the memories of their high school years resurfaced in his head as she told him her story.

She was without a doubt, the queen bee of the school. The girl that the audience is taught to hate in every chick flick in existence. The sweet little girl Vaughn knew in his childhood had transformed over the years. Since grade four every boy in the class would follow after her and this had no doubt, warped his cousin's thought process. Beauty and popularity meant everything to her and she looked down on the girls who didn't agree. Her friends began to bully a certain girl and Julia had gleefully joined in.

The girl was small and possessed the largest, timid eyes he had ever seen. He never really spoke to her, or even had an interest to but he would see her every day in the halls walking slightly hunched with a stack of books. She never paid much attention to her appearance and didn't really fit into high school's social norms. To Julia, she was practically spitting in the popular girl's face by disregarding the system she loved.

Vaughn always felt some guilt, that perhaps he should intervened but Julia never really got physical with her bullying so he figured it was alright. The emotionless teenager didn't understand how much something psychological could hurt a person, him nor Julia. Until one day, the girl killed herself.

It was all over the news. Julia and her friends were treated like criminals both on the streets and at school. No one was harder on Julia then Julia herself however. It was as if everything clicked, the way she treated others in school actually did impact them.

One night Vaughn had gotten up for a glass of water, the digital clock at his bed side shone 3:40 AM. Half asleep he had wondered out of his room only to notice a light on in his cousin's room. Peeking in, he could she her asleep at her desk, hands blue with ink. Several papers were sprawled out under her with different addresses. She was writing heart-filled apology letters to every person she had ever been mean to. She had been thorough, no missing a single person, even the ones who had long since moved away.

Weeks later she actually did receive some letters back. They were probably the most venomous things he had ever seen. Two weeks later he, his cousin, and his aunt moved to the country. No one said goodbye.

"I hurt so many people!" She cried, "One girl even hung herself!" She looked about ready to crack. Her eyes were wide as if she was still, several years later, trying to comprehend what had happened. "She is dead, because of me… Just like those poor chickens. What had they ever done wrong?" She asked hysterically.

When Elliot should have comforted her, when he should have held her close and told her that he still loved her, he looked at her coldly and turned away.